Creating an Audio Dissolve Transition in Avid

Offering innovative and award-winning solutions when creating audio, the Avid Company supports the creation of music and movie productions both at a professional and home-made level. All kinds of effects are made accessible and user-friendly for you to be able to materialize your imagination. Thus, one of the most popular effects is easily applicable to both video and audio editing – the smooth transition between two different audio tracks. The following guide describes the available ways of adding an audio dissolve transition with Avid.

The most often used method to start is clicking the Quick Transition button to make the Quick Transition dialog window pop up. There are three more methods you can find useful. Setting Avid in Trim Mode you will see an entry box named "Transition Effect Duration". Choose the duration of your effect and enter it into the box, then press Enter. This is a very simple way to add a dissolve effect at the selected transition.

The Effect Mode also has a method of adding dissolve. The additional option here is the Shift key - it enables you to select more than one transition. Hold it, press on all transitions you need, and then choose the time through which you would like the effect to last. You now have an Effect Editor dialog window and again the "Transition Effect Duration" entry box, where you type your effect's duration and hit Enter.

You can also use the Head Fade and Tail Fade functions following the 3 steps below. These functions work between segments as well.

Step 1: Enable Tracks and Set Positions

First, enable the track or multiple tracks you would like your Head or Tail Fade(s). Depending on where you want your dissolve(s) to end(1) or begin(2), move the Blue Position Indicator to the exact point in Head Fade(1) or Tail Fade(2) mode.

Step 2: Create the Fades

Finally, press the Head Fade or Tail buttons and you are done. The dissolve(s) have been added. In case you want to create multiple transition effects at one time, you can add them easily. First, select the track(s) that you would like to add transition effects to. Then follow these steps:

Step 3: Select the Transitions

Select the transitions you would like your effects to be created on. Mark In and Mark Out them and click the Quick Transition button. Note that when you mark In and Out, there are two additional check boxes in the dialog window.

Step 4: Choose the Positions

Choose a type of transition effect you want to add from the "Add" menu. Choose the placement of the effect from the "Position" menu. If you want the effect to be added to all transitions between your Mark In and Mark Out points, make sure the "Apply To All Transitions" box is checked.

Step 5: Skip or Add Effects

In case some transitions between the Mark In and Mark Out have already been given effects that you do not want to remove and replace with the new ones, simply check the "Skip Existing Transition Effects" box.